Central Kansas Library System

In 1775, the American colonies were a hotbed of political discord. Many of the British policies, specifically taxes, had caused American colonial leaders to consider the unthinkable: declaring independence from the British Empire and its King George. One such leader, Thomas Jefferson, wrote Common Sense: a pamphlet that explained the advantages of immediate and complete independence. In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, Common...

Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament. In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local resolutions-most of which have gone...

Tells the life story of founding father Benjamin Franklin, describing the many hats he wore, from inventor to businessman to statesman; the persona he created--and that still lives on; and his relationships with his wife, his illegitimate son, and his illegitimate grandson.

Have you ever wondered about the events that laid the foundations of the United States of America? This title investigates the people involved with and the events leading up to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Special features include sidebars, infographics, on-page definitions, online search sidebar, further evidence sidebar and primary sources. This title also includes a timeline, glossary, Web links, index, and common core activities. Core...

The first major biography of Benjamin Franklin in more than sixty years, The First American is history on a grand scale -- a work of meticulous scholarship and a thoroughly engaging portrait of the foremost American of his day. Diplomat, scientist, philosopher, businessman, inventor, wit, and bon vivant, Benjamin Franklin was in every respect America's first Renaissance man. The eighteenth-century genius comes to life in this masterwork by acclaimed...

In this audacious recasting of the American Revolution, distinguished historian Gary Nash offers a profound new way of thinking about the struggle to create this country, introducing readers to a coalition of patriots from all classes and races of American society. From millennialist preachers to enslaved Africans, disgruntled women to aggrieved Indians, the people so vividly portrayed in this book did not all agree or succeed, but during the exhilarating...

"Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, "Samuel Adams was the man." With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history. Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd and eloquent man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution. He employed every tool available to rally a town,...

In this remarkable book, the historian Jack Rakove shows how the private lives of these men were suddenly transformed into public careers--how Washington became a strategist, Franklin a pioneering cultural diplomat, Madison a sophisticated constitutional thinker, and Hamilton a brilliant policymaker. Rakove shakes off accepted notions of these men as godlike visionaries, focusing instead on the evolution of their ideas and the crystallizing of their...

With eloquence equal to Jefferson and Tom Paine, Adams helped ignite the flame of liberty and made sure it glowed even during the Revolution's darkest hours. He was, as Jefferson later observed, "truly the man of the Revolution." Adams played a pivotal role not fully appreciated until now in the events leading up to the confrontation with the British. Believing that God willed a free American nation, he was among the first to call for independence....

"Step back in time to the birth of America and meet the real-life rebels who made this country free! On a hot summer day near Philadelphia in 1776, Thomas Jefferson sat at his desk and wrote furiously until early the next morning. He was drafting the Declaration of Independence, a document that would sever this country's ties with Britain and announce a new nation--The United States of America. Colonists were willing to risk their lives for freedom,...